stanleyfan01 - Posted - 04/27/2009:  13:05:06

How good would I have to be to play in a band? How long would it take me to get there?

PRAISE THE LORD

Oalbrets - Posted - 04/27/2009:  13:16:47

I think that is up to you. If you pratice 8 hours a day then you will make it faster and if you only pratice 1 hour a day then it will take longer. Just my opinion and good luck,

Poverty Ridge Bluegrass

RB-1 - Posted - 04/27/2009:  13:17:14

Go to a jam, find people who are at your level and start a band.
You will be surprized how much quicker your progress becomes when you're playing with others.
Don't wait.....


RB-1 plays with Half A Turn & Heartstrings
http://www.halfaturn.nl
http://home.hccnet.nl/e.beurskens/S...tstrings.htm

rvrose - Posted - 04/27/2009:  13:19:28

I would get with a guitar buddy first and practice songs so you get the hang of paying with others. Then when you feel comfortable - jump in!

sjyokel - Posted - 04/27/2009:  13:27:07

Good advice, rvrose. Find someone you can trust who can be honest with you. You can do a lot with a good sense of rhythm and pitch and some basic rolls.

1four5 - Posted - 04/27/2009:  14:06:14

You could probably do it right now, with some friends, and play in Church or rest homes. You don't have to play complicated or fast. Simple and solid works just fine. I had guitar experience, but I played banjo in my first gig after 6 weeks. Just background rhythm, and I was VERY nervous. But that got me started and I've been hooked ever since.

Dean

steve davis - Posted - 04/27/2009:  14:25:44

Play as much as you can...eat,drink and breathe the music.

Pool

dhergert - Posted - 04/27/2009:  15:11:23

Not to discourage you from improving yourself, but the quality of sound that a band puts out is not purely a function of individual experience, skill or talent. It is also a function of how well you work together as a band. You can have some mediocre musicians that work extremely well together on simple songs that sound tremendous. You can also have superior musicans who don't work well together on very complex songs that sound awful. That cohesiveness in a band is key, and with only a few exceptions -- like if it is a family band -- it takes some significant time to develop.

If you really want to be in a band, start letting it be known now, where you are. Find people to play with who are in a similar state of progress with their instrument as you are with yours. Grow together. As you all make progress together you'll also grow tighter. It's a great experience.

Best,

-- Don
http://www.youtube.com/user/dh5string
http://home.att.net/~dhergert
http://mysite.verizon.net/don_hergert


"If you must use your banjo as a snow shovel, do so:
only don''t wonder if it sounds dull afterwards."
-- S.S. Stewart catalog, 1896.

Gun slinger - Posted - 04/27/2009:  15:14:57

I have been playing just a short time and a co-worker encouraged me to bring my banjo to work. I would play what few songs I knew and he would play guitar with me and it has helped tremendously. It was hard trying to stay in time with him and concentrate on what I was doing but it has gotten easier. My next step is playing at the local nursing homes with him.

davidmold - Posted - 04/27/2009:  16:57:52

I'm a lousy banjo picker and I'm in a band. How hard could it be?

eagleisland - Posted - 04/27/2009:  20:13:13

Varied as they may have been, every post on this thread so far has been spot on.

Be realistic about your expectations - if by "being in a band" means, for you, that the goal is a gold record or IBMA "Emerging Artist" award in three years, get your head out of the bong.

If it means "learning to really PLAY this music, and working on it, and being interesting with arrangements, and most importantly having fun, even when it's not..." well, start getting that band together, now.

Speaking only for myself, it's the best thing I ever did for my playing. It inspired me and forced me to think in different terms. In a band situation, there are three keys. Coordination is one key. Restraint is another. A willingness to suck up a song you really don't like and be willing to play it - and force yourself to play it well - is the third.

You probably won't understand that until you've done it yourself, and recorded a few gigs or, at minimum, practice sessions - even if the recording is of low quality. You'll still learn tons..

It's an interesting experiment in social dynamics, too. There are times I'd like to kill the other members of my band. There are times they'd like to kill me. There are times I'd nearly kill myself for letting them down.

There are times at which we should all be shot.

But I think of the perfect scene from Men in Black:

"Is it worth it?"

"Oh yeah, it's worth it....
If you're strong enough."

eagleisland

"I was halfway to Old Kentucky when the drugs began to kick in." - Hunter S. Monroe

Edited by - eagleisland on 04/27/2009 20:14:48

ppayette - Posted - 04/28/2009:  06:49:53

Find some GOOD pickers to play with. You will quickly improve. Like anything else, being involved with people who are better than you will make you play better.

Things I found I was weak on when I first joined a band were : 1. Timing - if you're like most people - we have a tendency to rush. A banjo player with a rock solid right hand is a great addition. 2. Back up - learning what sounds tasteful without overpowering and what enhances what else is going on. I don't like listening to a bluegrass band where the banjo player is never quiet!! 3. Hitting lead-ins to breaks. Fear will tend to make you tentative. However, you will make the same mistakes whether you play tentatively or play like you mean it - might as well be loud and proud.

Good luck, have fun and I wish you the best.

John Allison - Posted - 04/29/2009:  06:43:23

The only thing that I can add to what has already been said is to briefly explain how our band got started. We all met (well at least two of the four) met a local jam session: two of us were transferred from the Military District of Washington to the greater Detroit area. We decided to get together to jam and play our kind of music (mostly bluegrass) rather than the hodge-podge of everthing played at the local jam. After about 6 months of this we began to feel that we could play well enough together and enjoyed what we were doing enough to see if others enjoyed what we did as well. That was 5 years ago and we are going strong. We started with retirement communities and senior citizen centers and progressed into coffee houses, block parties, dock parties, open houses and musical theaters.

Froggie
"Courage is Fear that has said its prayers.